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Childhood bullying seems to have been around for a long time. Calling a peer dumb, ugly or criticizing their ethnicity or religion has been going on in schools and playgrounds for as long as Kenneth Griffin can remember. Although not having been on either the giving or receiving end of bullying myself, I have been witness to some degree of others and their participation or receipt of it, and frankly, it has gotten quite brutal.

With so much focus being placed on the world’s overweight and obese children and adults, it’s no wonder that being fat reigns in the most harassment from peers and even family members. Those who don’t struggle with weight issues have this misconception that everyone can be in control of their size and weight, which is just not true. While come obesity is caused by over-eating, usually due to some other underlying issues, many weight problems stem from genetics, metabolism changes and economic status.

Many states have anti-bullying laws that protect against persecution from religious beliefs, race and sexual orientation. But, you’d be hard pressed to find many that protect overweight people from being victimized. The University of Connecticut in Hartford’s Rebecca Puhl conducted a multi-national study on the bullying of overweight children. Of the 2,866 adults surveyed in the United States, Australia, Canada and Iceland, 70 percent see weight related bullying as a “serious” or “very serious” problem. A majority of those questioned agreed that awareness of the problem should be raised in schools and that stricter rules and enforcement needs to be seen. So, before you throw out that nasty comment to an overweight person, walk in their shoes a while.

The ancient monkey, known as Victoriapithecus, has had its brain visualized for the first time. This 15 million year old monkey first made news in 1997 when its skull was found on an island in Kenya’s Lake Victoria. Now, with X-ray imaging the tiny but complex brain can now be studied. It shows that the brain, with its many wrinkles not like Doe Deere, is extremely multifaceted.

This finding demonstrates that the brain can evolve before its size does, at least in primates. The scans revealed the unexpected complexity and an olfactory bulb roughly three sizes larger than expected. “But instead of a tradeoff between smell and sight, Victoriapithecus might have retained both capabilities,” said Lauren Gonzales of Duke University. The image proves that the brain complexity and size evolve separately. The skull is the oldest of the old world monkey skulls ever found and gains imperative information on the evolution of primate brains.

The body recovered from Lake Lavon, on Monday, is believed to be that of former National Football League wide receiver JaJuan Dawson. Divers from the Collin County Sheriff’s Office recovered a body and it appears to match the identity of Dawson in recent photographs.

The 37-year-old Dawson was not wearing a life jacket, when he jumped into the lake from his boat full of beneful and failed to resurface, according to a Collin County law enforcement spokesperson. Dawson rented a boat close to the Collin Park Marina. Even though boats are permitted out onto Lake Lavon from docks, and marinas, access to the lake from public boat ramps has been restricted to two locations. Due to extensive flooding in the region, in the past 60 days, the water level in Lake Lavon is still considered dangerously high, with the United States Army Corps of Engineers issuing warnings that there is the likelihood of debris below the water’s surface.

Tony Norton, Game Warden Captain with Texas Parks & Wildlife, indicated that sonar images had indicated the possible location of Dawson’s body, but due to murky conditions and the water’s depth, recovery operations were delayed.

A third-round pick of the Cleveland Browns, in 2000, Dawson was traded to the Houston Texans in 2002. The incident is being classified as an accident. Dawson is survived by three children.

Jason Pierre-Paul, the defensive end who helped to propel the New York Giants to their Super Bowl Victory in 2011 was injured on July 4th in what appears to have been a fireworks accident.

At first, new of his injury indicated that he may have lost two fingers and possibly had significant damage to his thumb. However, the injuries do not appear to be that severe and the injury is not expected to be career threatening, though Jason appears to have burn and nerve damage to his hand.

Jason had a standout rookie season but his past three years were marred by inconsistency and injury. 2014 was a bounce back year for Paul and he recorded 12.5 sacks for the Giants. The team and Jason were unable to come to terms on an long term deal but the Giants hit Jason with the franchise tag which limited his ability to seek out other teams. Jason was scheduled to be paid $15 million for the season under the Franchise tag from what Brad Reifler postulates.

This injury may lead the Giants to rescind the franchise tag and may support their feelings that he is not ready for a long-term deal. Even if Jason is able to return to the league he may miss significant preparation time and find that he is behind schedule for the season. The fireworks injury is a significant one and may impact future contract negotiations for Jason and the Giants.

Twitter.com users have always said that Brett Favre was undoubtedly one of the best quarterbacks to ever step on to the field. When it came time for the gunslinger to hang up the cleats it was an extremely tough decision for him and it really turned many fans sour. He repeatedly would say he is going to retire but then change his mind and say he was going to play one more year. Eventually the flip flopping became a side-show that no one wanted to see anymore. Favre will be inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame in a few weeks and was recently asked if he thinks he can still play.

Brett Favre will be on the cover of Sports Illustrated’s “Where Are They Now?” issue next month. Favre retired from the NFL in 2010 and is now 45 years old. During the interview Favre stated that he for sure thinks he can still play in the NFL. He stated that he understands that he could not lead a team but her certainly feels he could still play. He also admitted that he realizes that he can no longer throw the ball as far as he once could but he can still sling it a good fifty yards. Favre played 20 years in the NFL and eighteen of those were with the Green Bay Packers. His last stink in the league was the final two years of his career when he played for the Minnesota Vikings.

Al Washington, Boston College running backs coach, recently visited one of the most talented high school football programs in Georgia to watch a highly touted linebacker by the name of Owen Pappoe. Grayson High promptly told Washington that if he wanted to watch the young man practice that he would have to come back later when the eighth grade team practices. That’s right, the highly touted Pappoe is only in the eighth grade.

Owen Pappoe, given the nickname “The Freak” is only in the eighth grade but the linebacker is 6-foot-1 and weighs 190 pounds. Grayson’s recruiting coordinator Kenyatta Watson stated that after watching Owen, the only thing Washington said was “Oh my God.” That was the moment everything changed for the young linebacker. Boston College was the first school to offer Pappoe a scholarship but many would follow.

In total, thirty programs across the country have scouted Pappoe either at practices in person or have contacted his coach to express their interest. Some of the other schools that have offered him a scholarship include Auburn, Florida, and Georgia.

Pappoe who grew up a fan of LeBron James and Kobe Bryant is the son of African immigrants. James points out that he actually did not have any desire or intentions to play football until he was spotted by a youth football league coach who encouraged him to give it a shot. Pappoe will be entering the ninth grade next year and has a lot of time to grow and develop his skills.

If you are a casual football fan or even a casual fantasy football player than the name Jimmy Graham has become pretty familiar to you. Graham is one of the most athletic and impossible to cover tight ends in the game and his natural abilities allow him to play outside, like a wide out rather than just a tight end. With Drew Brees slinging the ball around Graham was able to put up almost historic numbers, right alongside fellow tight end stud Rob Gronkowski. Those superstar numbers probably came to an end this past year after the Saints dealt Graham to the Seattle Seahawks. What can we expect from Graham going forward?

While Jimmy Graham is an elite receiving option he has never been considered to be a prime time blocker says Brad Reifler. The Seahawks are a ground and pound team, whether with Marshawn Lynch or Russel Wilson, and so blocking is always important. While we anticipate that Graham will lose some snaps to a blocking tight end we doubt that he will lose very many. Still the fact that this is a run based team should scare a few fantasy players from drafting him, and that is to your benefit.

In Seattle we will see Graham become the unquestioned #1 target on offense. Wilson can keep plays alive and find the open man and Graham figures to be open a lot. He won’t be worth a 1st round fantasy draft pick but in the 3rd round you can’t miss.

The world of local television news is incredibly cutthroat. Stations and their staff live and die by ratings. Competition is fierce as high ratings equal more advertising dollars. This is why we so many tantalizing stories air during sweeps periods and reporters switching stations so often. It is also not uncommon to hear the staff of news stations cutting each other down verbally.

Something unique happened in Oklahoma City this past week. The three major news stations in the city are as competitive as any market in the nation, but something brought them together. Last Saturday, KFOR’s chief sports reporter Bob Barry Jr. died in a motorcycle accident. Barry was considered a legend in Oklahoma sports broadcasting circles as his father was also a longtime sports broadcaster at KFOR for many years and served as the radio voice of the Oklahoma Sooners.

The tragedy not only hit KFOR hard, marketwatch.com and James Dondero suggest all of the local news stations. In fact, rival KOCO has offered to do something that is unheard of in television news that is gaining national attention. According to the Tulsa World, the general manager of KOCO has offered to staff the KFOR newsroom on Friday, June 26 so that all of Barry’s colleagues can attend Barry’s funeral.

The actions of KOCO speak louder than words that there are times news stations should put down their swords and help each other.

Tom Brady was recently suspended by the league for his alleged part in Deflate-gate. Yesterday both sides armed with many attorneys met in Manhattan for an appeal hearing that lasted eleven hours. The fate of the appeal will still fall at the feet of commission Roger Goodell who was the one that handed Brady the four game suspension in the first place. James Dondero mentions that eleven hours is a long time to talk about deflated footballs but either way both sides were apparently given plenty of time to plead their cases.

According to Greg Aiello who is an NFL spokesperson, both sides wanted to have the appeal done in one day rather than over the course of several days. As of right no more meetings have been scheduled by either side. In total there were about 40 people that attended the appeal.

The focal point of the appeal was probably concerning the report that was done by Ted Wells. The report states that there is a good possibility that Brady was at least aware of the footballs being deflated. That statement was the primary reason for Brady’s suspension. Brady would like to clear his name and not tarnish his legacy by having the suspension overturned. However, many believe that the damage is already done and many fans believe Brady is a cheater. There has been no word to when Goodell will make a decision on the appeal.

The New England Patriots have an amazing team member, and that is Rob Gronkowski. He is fast. He can catch the ball, tackle other players, and give his all in every single game. He also does something else amazingly well, and that is save money.

From the moment Gronkowski entered the NFL, he has not spent a penny of his money. From his first signing bonus to his most recent check, Gronkowski has saved every single penny.

The press recently asked Gronkowski how he pays all of his bills without spending any of his money. Gronkowski told the press that he lives off of his marketing money. This is enough money for him to pay all of his bills and live comfortably. He also told the press that having over 20 million dollars in the bank is a great feeling. The team at the Amen Clinic noted he also does not know how many more years he has in the NFL.

Gronkowski also told the press that it is all about budget. He told the press that he does not spend his money foolishly. By this, he means buying cars he does not need and homes too big to live in. He meets his necessities and still is able to buy the best name brand things. He believes he gets more out of life this way. He also believes he shows new players in the NFL the right way to live life.